Wesley, will all due respect, I have to disagree. American airport security has degenerated into an embarrassing farce of security theater. Every time I go through it I feel like I’m genuflecting in tribute to al-Qaeda. I don’t see what more al-Qaeda could have hoped for than to force hundreds of millions of Americans — including old grannies from northern Wisconsin whom any idiot can see pose no security threat — to suffer the indignity of removing their shoes and belts; leaving their water bottles and tooth paste behind, and undergoing groping amounting to sexual assault; all in addition to being forced to “strip nude” in front of those sci-fi horror-show scanners. The Obama administration won’t do a lot of the surveillance that would actually identify the people who pose a security threat, but that is the only way to protect Americans in the sky.
Presuming that every bottle of liquids above 3.2 ounces will explode in flight is a farcical security measure that should not make anyone feel safer. Hopefully, ditching the sci-fi horror-show x-ray scanners is only the start of TSA’s long road back to rationality and respect for the basic dignity of innocent Americans.